Profile Evaluation

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Profile Evaluation

by Steph_10 » Wed Sep 16, 2009 1:21 pm
Hi, I would appreciate a profile evaluation please.

Personal
25 (matriculating at 26)
Female
Chinese American (US Citizen)
Have been living in the U.S. for half of my life.

Academic
Undergrad - Top 10 Public
Double major in Finance and Accountancy, >150 credits completed in 4yrs
GPA: 5.6
GMAT: 710 (Q70% V95%)

Professional Experience & Goals
WE at matriculation: 3.5 years
Spent 2 years at a top tier investment bank - a corporate credit analyst type position under the investment banking division. Some supervising experience delegating responsibilities to a few overseas analysts. Handled >$1.5 billion portfolio in mostly consumer packaged goods industry and did a lot of financial analyses. I hope my strong financial background, both academically and professionally, would mitigate my weaker Quant score.
Company and division downsized and restructured, and as a result I was without a job for just over 6 months (this is likely my biggest concern in the application process)

I was looking to prepare myself for a brand management track so I searched for companies that could provide me with cross-functional experience (in the long term, I'm shooting for general management in a CPG firm; I have a strong interest in CPG based on my previous work exp).

I've been with my current company for 9 months. I have a financial analyst title but have been essentially responsible for a senior analyst role since one of the senior analysts left the company. I intend to emphasize this accomplishment / leadership on my career essay and recommendation from my current manager. I also interact consistently with our sales & marketing group. Hopefully this will be a bonus to my career switch and support my decision to concentrate in marketing and management in the MBA program.


EC / Volunteer / Leadership
My most notable leadership experience comes from establishing a business fraternity during my sophomore year. A classmate and I co-founded this organization and built it from the ground up to >50 members. I was also its first treasurer, and member of the rush committee and the service committee (lots of leadership experience in this organization overall). I was also involved in few other organizations and volunteering events, but only as participants.

After college: I led the recruiting team at my first job during our annual recruitment at my alma mater. We hired one (& only) analyst partially based on my recommendation. I was the team organizer for the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation's charity event at my first job (>$7000). For the past 8 months, I've been actively involved in a local charity supporting underserved and minority children - I'm a young prof board member and on the organization's corporate sponsorship committee, and I'm active in most fundraising events. Again, a few other random volunteering events as well.

Additional
First in my family to attend / graduate from college.
Significant family hardship growing up that I will discuss in my essays.
Fluent in 3 Chinese dialects.
Took 4 yrs of Spanish classes while I was still learning English.
8 yrs of playing the piano when I was younger, which I picked up again during my unemployment
I enjoy outdoor adventures such as sky diving, but I'm also a video game nut.
Let's assume good to great recommendation letters from my previous and current managers, and great essays.

I have a few schools in mind but I would like your recommendations. Would Wharton / Kellogg / Haas be stretches? I think schools such as Michigan, NYU, and Duke are target, woudl you agree? Any back-up suggestions? I just need some insights so for let's just assume geography is not a factor. Thanks in advance for your help :D
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by Lisa Anderson » Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:11 am
Dear Steph_10,

In my opinion, any top 10 school is a stretch for any applicant. I do think you have a chance at any school you apply to assuming you submit a great set of essays and recommendations. I think you have identified some good programs for you based on your goals and agree that several are reasonable for you. If you want to have a safety school in the mix (or in mind), perhaps look at Minnesota which has good ties to CPG companies. Other schools that would be reasonable for you that have strong industry connections are Indiana and Vanderbilt.

Good luck,
Lisa
Lisa Anderson
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Stacy Blackman Consulting

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